238 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC, 



persons of the highest rank, met at St. Germain-en-Laye to 

 witness the performances of M. St. Gille. The real object 

 of their meeting was purposely withheld from a lady of 

 the party, who was informed that an aerial spirit had 

 lately established itself in the neighbourhood, and that the 

 object of the assembly was to investigate the matter. 

 When the party had sat down to dinner in the open air, 

 the spirit addressed the lady in a voice which seemed to 

 come from above their heads, from the surface of the 

 ground at a great distance, or from a considerable depth 

 under her feet. Having been thus addressed at intervals 

 during two hours the lady was firmly convinced of the 

 existence of the spirit, and could with difficulty be 

 undeceived. 



Another ventriloquist, Louis Brabant, who had been 

 valet de chambre to Francis I., turned his powers to a 

 more profitable account. Having fallen in love with a 

 rich and beautiful heiress, he was rejected by her 

 parents as an unsuitable match for their daughter. On 

 the death of her father, Louis paid a visit to the widow, 

 and he had no sooner entered the house than she heard 

 the voice of her deceased husband addressing her 

 from above, " Give my daughter in marriage to Louis 

 Brabant, who is a man of large fortune and excellent 

 character. I endure the inexpressible torments of 

 purgatory for having refused her to him. Obey this 

 admonition, and give everlasting repose to the soul of 

 your poor husband." This awful command could not be 

 resisted, and the widow announced her compliance 

 with it. 



As our conjurer, however, required money for the 

 completion of his marriage, he resolved to work upon tho 

 fears of one Cornu, an old banker at Lyons, who had 

 amassed immense wealth by usury and extortion. 

 Having obtained an interview with the miser, he intro- 



